The following dey we called upon all the officials, including the Literary Chancellor who stays in this city. They then all returned our visits and there {was a very busy time for two days. The Chancellor has a decidedly clever face, and seems a thoroughly intelligent officer. He is a relative of our old friend Shen Tun-ho, and that was a link at once. He has al-s0 two brothers abroad, one in London as Secretary to the Chines Legation, and the other in New York as Consul, so he had many matters of mutual interest to tall about and was pleased to discuss the sit-nation. He was very strong in maintaining, that the Empress Dowager was innocent and ignorant of the affairs of last year, and that the edicts issued and atrocities committed were not by her order, indeed, that she is and was a harmless individual, That was not given as an opinion but as a strong conviction. It la good to meet ith a thoroughly intelligent official who can support the policy of the Empress and believe in her integrity.
The Arrangements for the Distribution of relief were speedily made and the work gone on with smoothly. The need is great as the destitution is fearful. Even now there are those dying of starvation. The outlook for the winter is by no means bright. The crops on the north side of the river are very poor, and in many places either from the untimeliness of the rainfall or the pestilence of locusts the autumn harvest will not be reaped. What the poorer classes will do in the winter is a problem no one can an-swe. The official relief that was to be fully stopped in the sixth moon is still being continued in the more needy districts, and the Empress has left another hundred thou sand taels for immediate distribution. Seed is also being given that the wheat may be sown and the spring crops assured, but after all these measures have been taken there remain an enormous number of the population in destitution and face to face with the coming winter. Relief can only temporarily help, it cannot effectually ward off starvation. The chronic poverty and ever-recurring calamities that deplete the population and upset the stability of the government must be faced in the so-Jution of the problems of a thorough reform.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.